The leading and second-leading scorer in the SEC named to the first team by SEC Coaches.

March 6, 2012

Vanderbilt junior guard John Jenkins and senior forward Jeffery Taylor have been named to the All-SEC first team by the league’s coaches, it was announced today by the SEC office today in Birmingham.

Jenkins and Taylor are the 53rd and 54th Vanderbilt players to make the All-SEC First Team since voting began in the 1948 campaign. The Commodores have had a player on the first team in six out of the last seven years, and eight in the last 11.

Jenkins leads the league in all games in scoring (20.0), and threes made (3.9), and in league games only, Jenkins finished the year as the league leader in scoring (19.3) and threes made (3.9), and was second in free throw percentage (.875). Jenkins led the SEC in scoring in two consecutive seasons for first time since 1995 and 1996, when LSU’s Ronnie Henderson accomplished the feat and he has made 118 threes this year, which is the second-best single-season total in VU history, behind Shan Foster’s SEC-Best 134 (2008). His 118 threes now tie for the second-best single season total in SEC history with Tennessee great Chris Lofton, who also made 118 in 2008. Jenkins has scored in double-digits in 64 consecutive games, 83 in his career, and with his three 3FGs against Tennessee, Jenkins has scored at least 3 3FGs in 26 games this season. Jenkins has made six or more in three games this year.

The award is Jenkins’ second first-team selection (other was in 2011), and his fourth end-of-the-year honor from the SEC. Jenkins was named to the All-Freshman team in 2010 and was also named the league’s sixth man of the year in 2010.

Taylor’s first-team honor is his first of his Vanderbilt career. The senior forward was named to the All-Freshman team in 2009, and the All-SEC second team in 2010 and 2011. Taylor’s selection to the All-Defensive team is the third time he has been named to the team. He joins Mississippi State’s Jarvis Varnado as the only player to be named to three teams.

Taylor averages 17.1 points per game and is second in the SEC in all games in scoring, and finished the season second in scoring in league games only with a 16.8 average. Taylor is third on Vanderbilt’s all-time scoring list and leads all active scorers in the SEC with 1,847 career points, and also ranks in the top ten on Vanderbilt’s all-time list in rebounding, steals, free throws made and free throws attempted. He finished the season second in league games only in 3FG % at 48.8 (39-80)% and fourth in the SEC in field-goal percentage (.512) in all games, and finished fifth in league games only with a 49.5%. Taylor also finished third in the SEC in league games only in threes made (2.4).

Jenkins, Taylor, and their Commodore teammates have a first-round bye in the SEC Tournament and are preparing this week to take on the winner of Georgia and Mississippi State Friday at 9 p.m.

SEC Coach of the Year: John Calipari, KentuckySEC Player of the Year: Anthony Davis, KentuckySEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year: Patric Young, FloridaSEC Freshman of the Year: Anthony Davis, KentuckySEC Sixth-Man of the Year: Darius Miller, KentuckySEC Defensive Player of the Year: Anthony Davis, Kentucky